WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

6-10 April 2009

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Hispaniola was a hurricane target last year -- A climatologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center using data collected from NASA satellites including: Aqua, CloudSat, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, Landsat, QuikScat, Terra and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission reports that Hispaniola was hit by five hurricane-force tropical cyclones (Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Kyle) in 2008 resulting in over 800 deaths and inflicting major damage on this tropical island locate in what he calls "hurricane alley." [NASA GSFC]
Space agency continues to support polar research -- Although the International Polar Year has officially concluded, NASA continues to support polar research on several fronts. This past week, the first of two airborne field campaigns to the Greenland and Iceland ice sheets commenced, while later in 2009, NASA scientists will drill Antarctica's massive Pine Island Glacier . NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) is completing a seasonal survey of the world's ice sheets. [NASA JPL] [NASA GSFC]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAAWatch]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]

CLIMATE FORCING

Volcanoes as seen from space --
- Mount Redoubt along Alaska's Cook Inlet southwest of Anchorage continued to emit ash, volcanic gases and steam last week. A MODIS image obtained from NASA's Terra satellite shows the plume carried toward the east-southeast by winds. [NASA Earth Observatory]
- In the western Pacific Basin, plumes of volcanic ash and steam from Rabaul Volcano on the island of New Britain were detected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite near the end of last week. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Solar activity remains near a minimum -- Solar physicists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center recently noted that the Sun was exceedingly quiet during 2008, with no sunspots on 266 days, making the year the quietest since 1913. They also add that the Sun continued to be uncharacteristically quiet first three months of 2009, meaning a very deep solar minimum. NASA spacecraft have detected diminished solar radiation, which could affect planetary climate. [NASA GSFC]
Future is bright for carbon capture -- Researchers from the United Kingdom and Canada claim that underground capture and storage of carbon by underground water could be effective means for managing atmospheric carbon dioxide that would otherwise result in climate change. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Study focuses on marine microbes that fix carbon and nitrogen -- A microbiologist at the University of Southern California and colleagues used advanced imaging technology in their study of a marine microbe called Trichodesmium that concurrently absorbs both carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the atmosphere and fixes these gases as free oxygen, carbon-based food and nitrogen-based fertilizers. [EurekAlert!]
Effects of climate change on infectious diseases debated -- A researcher with the US Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center has reopened debate on the response of human infectious diseases to climate change by suggesting that climate change may cause poleward range shifts in the areas suitable for diseases due to higher temperatures instead of a net expansion in the global range of diseases. [EurekAlert!]
Climate change could cause deadly virus outbreaks in livestock -- A professor at the United Kingdom's Institute for Animal Health who has studied recent virus outbreaks in European livestock warns that projected increases in global temperatures could result in major livestock loses due to these deadly outbreaks. [EurekAlert!]
Reducing methane gas emissions from cows -- Researchers from University College Dublin claim that the addition of fish oil to the diet of cattle has resulted in a reduction in the amount of methane released by these animals. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Ice-free Arctic summers could appear all too soon -- An oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and a colleague from the University of Washington warn that their research, which involves use of six sophisticated computer models, indicates that the summer ice cover across much of the Arctic Ocean could disappear within 30 years, much sooner than the end of this century as previously expected. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Antarctic dust layers provide information on past climates -- Researchers from universities in the United Kingdom and France report that dust obtained from Antarctic ice sheets originated from the plains in South America's Patagonia and can be used to decipher changes in climate that caused glaciers in Chile and Argentina to periodically grow and recede over the last 80,000 years. [EurekAlert!]
Mantle plumes may bend beneath Earth's crust -- A geophysicist at the University of Rochester and colleagues at Stanford University and in Germany report that their research using computer simulations and ancient magnetism indicates deep mantle plumes of hot magma that created such geologic features as the Hawaiian Islands and Yellowstone National Park appear to be bent, suggesting movement of these plumes. [University of Rochester]
New theory presented for greatest mass extinction in earth's history -- Researchers at Germany's Helmholtz-Center for Environmental Research and their colleagues from Russia, Austria and South Africa have proposed a new theory to explain the largest mass extinction in the history of the earth at end of the Permian Age (250 million years ago), which involves the release of sufficient quantities of volatile halogenated gases from giant salt lakes to change the atmospheric composition to irretrievably damage vegetation. This theory differs from those that have considered volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts or the release of methane hydrate as being the cause. [Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Website for human dimensions of climate change -- An interagency effort within the US federal government that included NOAA, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, has resulted in a website called HD.gov (for HumanDimensions.gov) that provides users, such as natural resource managers, with information on the human dimensions on a variety of topics of interest such as climate change. [HD.gov]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

6 April 1886...Detroit, MI recorded its biggest snowfall in 24 hours when 25.4 inches fell. (Intellicast)
6 April 1989...Unseasonably hot weather prevailed in California. Afternoon highs of 91 degrees in Downtown San Francisco, 93 degrees at San Jose, 98 degrees at San Diego, 103 degrees at Santa Maria, 104 degrees at Riverside, and 106 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles established records for the month of April. (The National Weather Summary)
6 April 1990...The last measurable snowfall of the 1989-90 season occurred at Valdez, AK. This brought the season snowfall to a whopping 560.2 inches, breaking the old record of 517 inches set back in the 1928-29 season. (Intellicast)
8-10 April 1958...A global 48-hour precipitation record was established at Aurere, La Reunion Island , when 97.1 in. of rain from a tropical cyclone fell on the Indian Ocean island. (The Weather Doctor)
8 April 1989...Two dozen cities in the southwestern U.S. reported new record high temperatures for the date. Phoenix, AZ equaled their record for April of 104 degrees established just the previous day. (The National Weather Summary)
9 April 1983...Hottest day in Malaysian historical record, as the temperature reached at Chuping, Malaysia reached 101 degrees, a record that was tied nine days later. (The Weather Doctor)
9 April 2000...A record April snowfall of 14.6 in. shut down Montreal, Quebec. Snow removal contracts had ended on 1 April. (The Weather Doctor)
9 April 1995...Glasgow, MT recorded 12.2 inches of snow in 24 hours, its greatest 24-hour snowfall on record. (Intellicast)
10 April 1985...A late season cold snap in the east set record low April temperatures in the following cities: Asheville, NC, 23 degrees; Beckley, WV, 11 degrees; Elkins, WV, 3 degrees. April record lows were tied in Raleigh-Durham, NC (23 degrees) and Roanoke, VA (20 degrees). (Intellicast)
12 April 1815...Massive eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia blew 400 cubic kilometers (100 cubic miles) of ash skyward. Eruption disrupted the global weather for several years, particularly noteworthy: the cold summer of 1816 in North America and Europe. (The Weather Doctor)
12 April 1934...Winds atop Mount Washington, NH (elevation 6288 feet) averaged a world record 186 mph for five minutes, with a peak gust from the southeast of 231 mph, which is the highest wind speed ever clocked in the world. (David Ludlum)
12 April 1985...Key West, FL set a new record for April rainfall in a 24-hour period as 6.06 inches of rain were recorded, eclipsing the previous record of 6.04 inches which fell on 29 April 1941. In addition, the heavy rainfall shattered the old record for this date set back in 1931 when 1.49 inches of rain fell. (Intellicast)
12 April 1996...Duluth, MN recorded 1.7 inches of snow on this day to raise its seasonal snowfall total to 132.8 inches -- its snowiest winter on record. The old record was 131.6 inches set back in 1949-50. (Intellicast)

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